


Help Me Remember I'm Free

by OTPshipper98



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, PTSD RECOVERY, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 13:17:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21198272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OTPshipper98/pseuds/OTPshipper98
Summary: Of what happens in Draco's mind during a PTSD flashback.





	Help Me Remember I'm Free

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the October Discord Drabble Challenge! The prompt was “Snake” and the word count restriction 404 words. Thanks to CheekyTorah and Kai_ for hosting it! Also thanks to TheLightFury for betaing!

He’s been staring at the snake again.

He’s okay, nowadays, mostly—or so he tells himself. Right now he feels like it’s a lie—a joke he’s become so good at telling. At _ believing_. 

He’s lying on the bed. On, not in. He wants to be in it, but he can’t move. It’s almost funny because a moment ago he was shaking, gasping for air, sinking his nails into his forearm but telling himself that it was okay. That he wasn’t really hurting himself—simply trying to catch his breath, to will the pain away.

Now he’s still. So, so very still. His face is heavy, and he’d press it into the pillow if his eyes weren’t stuck on a spot in the ceiling; if his limbs weren’t so exhausted. Too exhausted to even turn over.

_ I’m so stupid_, he thinks. That thought leads to another, and that one to another, and pain pools in his chest, pulling fresh tears to the surface.

So he closes his eyes. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, and he pictures the door opening. Pictures Harry walking in, finding him there, on their bed, veering wildly between feeling too much and nothing at all. He exhales and imagines Harry standing by the bed—touching his hair. He clutches at his wrist and pictures the bed dipping and a warm body embracing him, holding him close, _ closer_.

Harry doesn’t ask—knows not to—and simply holds Draco through the tears, the shivers, the sobs. He holds Draco so close that Draco’s buried in him by the time he stops crying, so exhausted he quickly slips into a peaceful dream.

He opens his eyes. Finds that spot on the ceiling—the only thing that keeps him from clawing at the Dark Mark again as his chest fills, once more, with emotions that belong in the past; in another house, in a place where he wasn’t safe.

Downstairs, the front door opens and closes. There are a few sounds, then footsteps on the stairs. Draco’s body starts to _ shake_. He heaves, paralysed, waiting for the door to open, visions of the monsters of his past playing in his mind.

Harry doesn’t immediately notice the tears in Draco’s eyes—does ask, once he notices. Still, he crawls into bed and holds him. And maybe Draco has to snuggle closer himself, maybe it isn’t perfect, but Harry is warm, and real, and _ there_. And Draco can finally breathe.

**Author's Note:**

> Even if this is an old fic, kudos, comments and bookmarks are still incredibly appreciated! ❤️


End file.
